New French anti-terror law to replace 2-year state of emergency

France is about to lift a state of emergency for the first time since the Bataclan concert hall massacre in Paris two years ago.

The exceptional legal regimen, which had been renewed a total of six times by two presidents, will be replaced Wednesday by a tough new anti-terrorism law that grants police and investigators extensive powers to raid, detain and question terrorism suspects — making many special provisions permanent.

During a formal signing ceremony Monday at his office, French President Emmanuel Macron said the new law would allow France to “exit the state of emergency from November 1 while ensuring the security of our citizens.” Following heavy criticism of the bill, which rights groups said would encourage discrimination against France’s Muslim minority, Macron added that the new law would undergo an evaluation within “two years” after going into effect Tuesday.

Macron’s controversial law further bulks up a vast security arsenal that includes daytime military patrols in major cities, a major investment ramp-up into domestic intelligence collection and the creation of a new anti-terrorism task force directly under Macron’s authority, in the Elysée presidential palace.

Partly inspired by the Joint Terrorism Task Force in the United States, its aim is to coordinate the action of domestic and foreign intelligence agencies following slip-ups, notably their failure to prevent three attacks carried out in 2012 by Islamist militant Mohamed Merah. He shot seven people and injured five in Montauban and Toulouse. He was shot dead by police after a siege.

The task force — run by a prefect and former domestic intelligence chief, Pierre de Bousquet de Florian — is still being finalized, said François Heisbourg, a security expert who advised Macron on its setup during the presidential campaign.

In comments to POLITICO earlier this month, Heisbourg said that Macron’s new anti-terrorism law responded to the need to lift the state of emergency, lest a new attack demonstrate its toothlessness and leave authorities cornered, with few other options than to impose martial law.

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pexit

Yeah…from” temporary” emergency state France has moved to “permanent emergency state”…
And of course any issue with rule of law, human right and respect of private life…Timmermans…once…two…never…Timmy is only fighting for the right of big companies to cheat normal people and the rule of IV Reich law…

Posted on 10/31/17 | 1:43 PM CEST

Alaina

As @pexit points out here, this is simply a permanent state of emergency, a permanent police state.

Posted on 10/31/17 | 2:03 PM CEST

François P

This is not a good law. Much better to simply provide more resources to specialised judges, police services and intelligence agencies.

Posted on 10/31/17 | 2:12 PM CEST

bc

@pexit
Blatant example of EU double standards in truly Orwellian ‘Animal farm’ spirit: “all animals are equal but some are more equal”.

Just imagine a mayhem that EU Commissars would start if government of Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland or Romania not only imposed ‘state of emergency’ depriving citizens of their basic rights, undermining basic EU principles like France but made form it a ‘permanent state of emergency’ by transferring those special regulations to a regular law !

EU parliament debates, threats of sanctions, triggering article 7 of EU treaty and depriving of voice in the EU would follow immediately. Timmermans, Juncker, Merkel, Macron would go mad on mainstream media every day on that.

Posted on 10/31/17 | 3:22 PM CEST

~\_O_/~

I am sure French citizens will feel much safer tonight…

And they wonder why Eastern Europe doesn’t want to take a migration quota.

Posted on 10/31/17 | 5:47 PM CEST

Rodop

Wait. This is only the beginning.
Here you have the much desired “DIVERSITY” in action.
And the feature costs in money and suffering will crush Europe.